Dehrar Belhoul Al Falasi, a member of the Federal Council of the UAE, claimed in an interview with i24NEWS on Monday that the leadership of Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are “corrupt” and “murderers”.

Al Falasi was asked in the interview whether in his opinion the United Arab Emirates will want to mediate contacts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority now that its normalization agreement with Israel has been signed.

"I think the UAE is doing and has done enough. The UAE is committed to the cause, to the Palestinian people. Not to Hamas and the PA. Both are corrupt. They are both murderers. The anger towards the UAE on the part of the PA and Hamas has been created because we stopped paying. We want to pay and we will pay the people. Not Hamas and the PA," he replied.

Regarding PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the Emirati lawmaker said, "Abbas is what we describe in Arabic as a simple merchant who walks around with his bag. He came here and he brought his son with him. His son handed out business cards, 'I am this man's agent and this man’s agent.’ Did you come to help the Palestinian people or to sell yourself, or your companies? We know all the dirty tricks they are doing."

Al Falasi was also asked about his opinion on Qatar's policy of transferring money to the Palestinian Authority in the past two years and replied, "It's terrorism and they're financing it. Is it financing terrorism or not? By law, if you finance it - it's considered financing terrorism. I think they're so deeply involved in it that they cannot stop now."

Al Falasi noted that in his opinion the way to fight terrorism is to drain its sources of funding. "Once you do that you will eradicate terrorism. We know that Hamas are terrorists. If you stop the money it will not continue."